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Host rating
100 %
Last replied
29 Apr 2025
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
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Details
Description
#freepalestine🇵🇸
Hello, and thank you for visiting our profile.
We’re Umberto (Italian) and Sally (Irish/English), mother and son.
We bought our listed, 16th century Villa near Lake Garda twenty-five years ago and have been refurbishing it ever since.
We’re pleased to gradually be making the grounds of the villa more pollinator friendly while keeping it as low maintenance as possible.
The surrounding area is rural but well connected, with a bus stop en route to Verona a few minutes away.
If you have a driving licence you may have the opportunity of using the family car if it’s free.
It’s a pleasant 20 minute, countryside, walk to our closest village,
Rivoli Veronese, (the same Rivoli where Napolean fought and won a major battle in 1797).
The village is in a picturesque spot and has a couple of good bars, restaurants, pizzeria, chemist, bakery, grocer, post office and atm; it also has a fort, and even a Napolean Museum!
We‘re sunny, positive, hardworking people and we love to attract others with similar traits.
Communication, efficiency, reliability, pride in a job well done, flexibility and a practical and energetic ”can do” approach to any tasks to be done are gratefully welcomed.
Final notes:-
🙏🏼Our place is a smoke free home, and that includes the garden too, so no cigarettes etc on the premises please!
Two other families live close by and while they aren’t the quietest, we make sure NOT to contribute to their noise. So no loud music or raised voices please🙏🏼
In northern Italy the middle of the day can be very warm, with mornings and evenings much cooler. In high Summer you’ll probably live in shorts, sandals and a T-shirt.
You’ll have use of the washing machine, and drying racks.
Thanks for reading this far and I’m looking forward to meeting you 🤗
Wishing you wonderful adventures, health and happiness🌼
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Interests
Events & social
Art & design
Cycling
Beach
Yoga / Wellness
Winter sports
Nature
Hiking
Performing arts
Books
DIY & crafts
Gardening
Plant care
Charity work
Culture
Pets
Politics / Social justice
Self development
Sustainability
Vegetarian or vegan
Animals
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
You can practice your English and Italian. Visit the ancient cities of Verona and Mantova 30 minutes away, or go a bit further for Venezia, Padova, Bologna, Milano, Firenze or Bolzano!
You’ll have plenty of free time to explore Lake Garda; its beauty spots, beaches, villages and (depending on the season) also water sports or simply swimming and sunbathing.
Try tandem paragliding on Monte Baldo or go cycling, hiking, canyoning, rock climbing, caving; or trekking - on foot or horseback, in the hills and mountains nearby.
Help
Primarily we want to host volunteers who are expert in house cleaning. People who will derive pleasure and deep satisfaction in keeping the Villa immaculately clean and maintained while final renovation works are carried out. I try to avoid chemical cleaning products, favouring instead the use of micro-organisms, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda wherever possible.
We may also need other kinds of help …such as freshening up outdoor furniture, pruning or dead-heading roses, raking up leaves, changing a light bulb, weeding the gravel, cleaning windows and floors … whatever needs to be done to keep the property beautiful and functioning perfectly as we’re always full of guests with friends and extended family visiting during the Spring and Summer.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Russian: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
Our home is English and Italian speaking
Accommodation
We prefer to host couples; or pairs of friends who are happy to share a bedroom! Same sex solo travellers are also welcome if they’re happy to share a bedroom with single beds.
Our home is large and there’s plenty of room for every one of us to be quietly alone in our off time.
.
There are 3/4 double bedrooms for volunteers, which share two, new bathrooms, ( one of which has a shower) .
Both bathrooms are fitted with the douche system (widely adopted in the Middle East and beyond), which is considered more hygienic than the usual bidet. It’s also more ecological as no toilet paper is required … (in fact NOTHING in the way of wet-wipes, cotton discs, cotton buds, tissues etc must be flushed down these toilets).
We’re vegetarian and try to source our food locally.
Breakfast and lunch are included (DIY style).
Dinner is not provided.
What else ...
There’s a regular but sparse bus service to Verona, with a stop very close by. The bus connects with other bus, and train networks.
Bike and and E-bikes can be rented nearby.
Italian Citizenship:
I’m very sorry but I won’t be able to help anyone hoping to register as a long term Italian resident in my home, with the view to obtaining citizenship.
#FreePalestine🇵🇸
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We live with two dogs, Our big girl, Maia is a Newfoundland. (She luckily knows she’s a dog). On the other hand, her chum, Benito is an English Bulldog and he’s convinced he’s Human. Both are very enthusiastic about people, gentle, funny, they love attention and may turn into ruffians when they begin to play.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (5)
We have a lot of fun, we play board games, talked about everything, lots of interesting stories, laughs and also good food, she is a great chef.… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.8)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.8)
We have a lot of fun, we play board games, talked about everything, lots of interesting stories, laughs and also good food, she is a great chef.… read more
If a host needs someone with an eye for detail coupled with fearless initiative and a pride in almost forensic precision then Lucas will deliver. He’s also very smart; a wicked opponent during… read more
Their sunny energy made them a pleasure to have around, and their fearless, hard working, “can do” attitude was really refreshing. They would approach tasks that were perhaps, new to them with an ,“I’m sure we can figure it out!” … and they… read more
she provided us with everything we needed and always had the best food ready! the work was fun and she was so easy going with free time! she did so much for and felt like a cool fun aunty in a way haha! love sally and I'm sure you would as well!
also such a beautiful… read more
